In such violent courses Haarfagr's sons, I know not how many of them,
had come to an untimely end; only Eric, the accomplished sea-rover, and
three others remained to him. Among these four sons, rather impatient
for property and authority of their own, King Harald, in his old days,
tried to part his kingdom in some eligible and equitable way, and retire
from the constant press of business, now becoming burdensome to him. To
each of them he gave a kind of kingdom; Eric, his eldest son, to be head
king, and the others to be feudatory under him, and pay a certain yearly
contribution; an arrangement which did not answer well at all. Head-King
Eric insisted on his tribute; quarrels arose as to the payment,
considerable fighting and disturbance, bringing fierce destruction from
King Eric upon many valiant but too stubborn Norse spirits, and among
the rest upon all his three brothers, which got him from the Norse
populations the surname of _Blod-axe_, "Eric Blood-axe," his title in
history. One of his brothers he had killed in battle before his old
father's life ended; this brother was Bjorn, a peaceable, improving,
trading economic Under-king, whom the others mockingly called "Bjorn
the Chapman." The great-grandson of this Bjorn became extremely
distinguished by and by as _Saint_ Olaf. Head-King Eric seems to have
had a violent wife, too. She was thought to have poisoned one of her
other brothers-in-law. Eric Blood-axe had by no means a gentle life
of it in this world, trained to sea-robbery on the coasts of England,
Scotland, Ireland and France, since his twelfth year.
Old King Fairhair, at the age of seventy, had another son, to whom was
given the name of Hakon. His mother was a slave in Fairhair's house;
slave by ill-luck of war, though nobly enough born. A strange adventure
connects this Hakon with England and King Athelstan, who was then
entering upon his great career there. Short while after this Hakon came
into the world, there entered Fairhair's palace, one evening as Fairhair
sat Feasting, an English ambassador or messenger, bearing in his hand,
as gift from King Athelstan, a magnificent sword, with gold hilt and
other fine trimmings, to the great Harald, King of Norway. Harald
took the sword, drew it, or was half drawing it, admiringly from the
scabbard, when the English excellency broke into a scornful laugh, "Ha,
ha; thou art now the feudatory of my English king; thou hast accepted
the sword from him, and art now his man!" (acceptance of a sword in that
manner being the symbol of investiture in those days.) Harald looked
a trifle flurried, it is probable; but held in his wrath, and did
no damage to the tricksy Englishman. He kept the matter in his mind,
however, and next summer little Hakon, having got his weaning done,--one
of the prettiest, healthiest little creatures,--Harald sent him off,
under charge of "Hauk" (Hawk so called), one of his Principal, warriors,
with order, "Take him to England," and instructions what to do with him
there. And accordingly, one evening, Hauk, with thirty men escorting,
strode into Athelstan's high dwelling (where situated, how built,
whether with logs like Harald's, I cannot specifically say), into
Athelstan's high presence, and silently set the wild little cherub upon
Athelstan's knee. "What is this?" asked Athelstan, looking at the little
cherub. "This is King Harald's son, whom a serving-maid bore to him, and
whom he now gives thee as foster-child!" Indignant Athelstan drew his
sword, as if to do the gift a mischief; but Hauk said, "Thou hast taken
him on thy knee [common symbol of adoption]; thou canst kill him if thou
wilt; but thou dost not thereby kill all the sons of Harald." Athelstan
straightway took milder thoughts; brought up, and carefully educated
Hakon; from whom, and this singular adventure, came, before very long,
the first tidings of Christianity into Norway.
Harald Haarfagr, latterly withdrawn from all kinds of business, died
at the age of eighty-three--about A.D. 933, as is computed; nearly
contemporary in death with the first Danish King, Gorm the Old, who had
done a corresponding feat in reducing Denmark under one head. Remarkable
old men, these two first kings; and possessed of gifts for bringing
Chaos a little nearer to the form of Cosmos; possessed, in fact, of
loyalties to Cosmos, that is to say, of authentic virtues in the savage
state, such as have been needed in all societies at their incipience in
this world; a kind of "virtues" hugely in discredit at present, but not
unlikely to be needed again, to the astonishment of careless persons,
before all is done!